[N 1] Eighteen individuals have held the position (with one of them doing so twice, and one doing so thrice) and of those people: Holyoake, Marshall, Watt, Muldoon, Palmer, Clark and English have eventually served as prime minister.

[8] The Sixth National Government, formed in 2023, intends to share the role of deputy prime minister between its two coalition partners for half the term each.

[11] Barnes conducted a survey of journalists, academics, and former members of parliament to rank New Zealand deputy prime ministers up to that time since 1960.

Across the nine deputy prime minister 'qualities', Don McKinnon achieved the number one ranking, followed by Brian Talboys, Michael Cullen, and Jack Marshall.

Winston Peters, Jim Anderton, and Bob Tizard were ranked lowest in both sections of the survey.